(Gods and Angels) Challenge of the White Bear
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [medieval/magic AU] Tomoki had never been particularly strong: not in body, and not in mind either. So how was it that he managed to pass the challenge of this beast, while Yutaka - older, stronger and more experienced, could not.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Written for

The Love-Buckets Write-a-thon  
Diversity Writing Challenge, h16 - write in third person omnipresent narration  
Becoming the Tamer King Challenge, Steamy Jungle task

Was written some time last year actually, but I totally forgot I hadn't posted it waiting for the write-a-thon deadline. Whoops. :D

This is part of the Gods and Angels universe, same as Grounding Angel. It's set some time before Grounding Angel, though you don't need to have read that to understand this one. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Challenge of the White Bear  
** _Chapter 1_

Very few people passed the Challenges, but almost everybody tried. There was the odd person who didn't, but that was because they already had their minds set on another role in their world at the tender age of eight.

As for the rest of them: the ones who tried and failed… Sometimes, they wondered if the reason so many failed was because of how they were divided. Their people, who lived in the snowy mountains, faced the challenge of the white bear, but atop another mountain on the other side of the world was a fire dragon and in the valley between them a sleeping lizard whose scales were pink flowers instead. So the travellers told, and sometimes people from their own village left for those other places, or outsiders came in. Not everyone could or even had to be a God or an Angel, but they were two of the most highly coveted positions: the most powerful, aside from the Hall and their power, it was said, was purely in their decision-making capacity and their unreachability.

They were the governors who oversaw them and rarely came down to their plane and never at all to the mortal one. And it was the Gods and Angels who kept the peace: who fought demons and all other manner of creatures, who divided the lands and settled disputes. It was what every child wanted until they knew better, knew that power didn't equal happiness, and some of them never knew.

And most of them never really knew what it was like to be a God or Angel either, because they couldn't pass the trials.

Yutaka was one such person, or so he'd thought. He'd failed the test at eight years of age but he hadn't left the place. Ice was a good fit for him: the care the slippery slopes demanded was something he treasured and was used to. He couldn't imagine a life of climbing up hot volcano slopes or through forests that looked different by the day, and he couldn't guarantee he'd grow a pair of wings or become an Angel either. There wasn't a process to either of them, and no pattern at all to the former. They took what they got and he got the slopes of ice. He could handle them. And so he stayed with them.

He didn't expect anything to change when his brother took the very same trial seven years later.

But life had a funny way of throwing snowballs.

.

Yutaka had taken the Challenge of the White Bear seven years ago. He'd failed it. Along with a good number of other people because the bear still slumbered. But Tomoki didn't care about those people. They didn't care about him much, either. The old people smiled and patted him on the head and gave him lollies and cookies as he passed them by, but that wasn't the same. It didn't make up for how the younger ones always threw snowballs and ruined his sculptures and snow-art and tried to shove him down the slope.

Luckily, his brother was almost always on the slopes and thus ready to catch him. Even if he got a harsh scolding afterwards.

Like it was his fault those kids were mean. Like it was his fault the old people felt sorry for him. Like it was his fault he was only good at those puzzles the old guys occupied themselves with making, and that wouldn't be a bit of good to anyone unless he could venture out into the big wide world and make his way through uncharted lands and map them out. Or treasure coves that were too complex to get into, or things like that. Real adventures – but no-one just became an adventurer. Didn't just become an adventurer and survive, anyway.

He could do it as a God, though. Even if the very idea was laughable because he couldn't even get out of the house without coming home with bruises and frostbites. But he wanted to. He wanted to be strong, strong so those kids wouldn't laugh at him and shove him around, so his brother wouldn't give him that disappointed and reprimanding look, so that it wasn't only old people (and his parents), who'd pat him on the head and give him sweets. When a God and their Angels visited a village, they got a grand reception but it was more than that. They were appreciated. They were welcomed. They were special.

And there wasn't anything wrong with dreaming about being special, except the near guaranteed crash that awaited him when his hope turned out to be a fruitless tree with its bare branches out there for the world to see.

But he wasn't going to stay Yutaka's pathetic kid brother forever. He was going to grow. Find his own strengths and in a way that way that meant more than just keeping old folk happy and entertained.

And if the Challenge of the White Bear wasn't for him, then he'd have to find one that was because he wasn't going to make it out in the cut-throat wider world without something up his sleeves: powers others didn't have, power that could protect him, guide him, give him strength.

Where or where was the strength he was born with? He could oh so easily flee from the test before he even took it!

But the test was the only hope he had. He had to do it.

.

Tomoki was such a frail child. In all honesty, Yutaka didn't understand it because their lives growing up hadn't been so different – except Tomoki had an elder brother. Did he protect him too much? Scold him too much? Or was Tomoki's inherent personality so different, that this rift had grown between the two of them, and between him and the world.

Tomoki had stood up and declared he too would try the trial like the other children, but Yutaka half-expected him to pull back before the fateful day. And it wasn't a shame or smear upon their honour to do so. The trials were hard, and eight was too young and fresh an age for most of them. And, because of that, many who undertook the trials found the grip of their memories too strong, and could not escape it nor find peace until the memory was torn out of them like the scab that kept new skin from growing over.

Yutaka barely remembered his own trials, and he was lucky he had that little sliver with him still. Most didn't have that. It became as though they'd never taken the challenge at all – and all he really remembered was the terrifyingly aching feeling of being alone.

Maybe a part of him wanted Tomoki to turn away. That way he wouldn't have to face that. Wouldn't have to try. But there was another part of him that scolded himself as well. He didn't believe in Tomoki, did he? Didn't think he stood a chance.

No-one thought he stood a chance. Poor Tomoki. And yet he wanted to try anyway. He was going to try anyway, with or without the support of the rest of them – and could he, the older brother, provide even a little bit of support?

He was support on the slopes after all: the guide, the watcher, the playground monitor. It was his job to support people – and especially his little brother, who always went out there when he knew he couldn't handle it, knew he slipped on the more treacherous parts even if the other kids weren't around to push him around. And he'd try to navigate those slopes even when he knew he couldn't, knew he'd gotten banged up and bruised on them before, knew he shouldn't let those other boys get under his skin – but he let them, then he'd get hurt, and Yutaka would go and rescue him and chide him and hope he'd have the sense to stay away…

And be a little bit proud that he didn't, because it also meant his brother didn't know how to give up, even when he was terrified. And that – pretty much only that – was what made him think that maybe he did have a chance. Maybe Tomoki could go through that trial and come out victorious on the other side, and then go off on adventures like he wanted to: explore their world, and the human world as well. Explore and uncover new things. Fun things. More than just the games of old people who'd lived too long and had nothing more to do.

But the Tomoki who was clumsy but stubborn, seeing but blind – that was the Tomoki at the forefront most of the time and that Tomoki had no hope of getting through the trials.

And so his eighth birthday came, and nothing had changed up till then. Nothing at all.

And Tomoki's challenge of the bear was upon him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Challenge of the Bear  
** _Chapter 2_

It was finally time, and Tomoki was once again second-guessing himself. And aching for it. Or second-guessing himself because he was aching. Or maybe the aches had nothing to do with it. He was kind of used to it, after all.

So was everybody else. The older people petted his hair like he was one of the seals being shown back to its water hole. He felt a little like that, goosebumps raised like fur – but that was even more terrifying, because it meant he belonged in the ice caverns half-flooded with water and he'd never come up or be warm or in the sunlight but be trapped in the cold darkness forever –

'You can still back out,' Yutaka said, from behind him.

Tomoki's fingers dug into his arms. 'No way!' he snapped. 'I'm gonna do this. You'll see.'

There was a pause, and Tomoki only wished he'd stop shaking enough to turn around and see his brother's expression, before he finally said: 'If you say so.'

And then retreating footsteps as Yutaka went to stand with the other spectators without any parting words of wisdom and courage.

 _Fine,_ Tomoki thought to himself. _I'll show him too._

But Yutaka did pause at the edge of the crowd. 'Go on,' he said.

Tomoki didn't know quite what to make of that, so he just said 'I'm off' and did just that.

And once he was at the mouth of the cavern, with the Elder patted his shoulder as the last of a long line and said a speech Tomoki had listened to many a time before but simply couldn't focus on now. The nerves were back full-force, interspersed with throbbing bruises and why had he thought it would be a good idea to go play on the glacier in the plain sight of the other children on the day of his Trial? What if he'd sprained his ankle again or snapped his wrist? As it was, those bruises were going to be a distracting pain, along with the way his knees threatened to clack together.

But he'd walked over here fine.

Then he realised. He'd been distracted, trying to work out whether Yutaka was trying to encourage him or happy to be rid of him for a bit.

The Elder gave him a firm push, and he was still trying to puzzle that out when the cavern swallowed him.

.

Tomoki wasn't concentrating. Yutaka wondered if his words had backfired – and that'd be just like them, he grumbled to himself. For some reason, he and his brother hardly ever seemed to be on the same page and because of that, they were no-where near as close as they could or should have been. Really, half the time he felt more like Tomoki's second father than his younger brother. And their father did give him too much of a free reign, too, not realising what both brothers already do: that Tomoki was going to need to grow some thicker skin before he could make something of himself.

He was going to try and go for it now – but it could wind up being a complete waste. It all depended on what he did, what left impressions his body would remember even if his mind forgot, and what he remembered at the end – and the biggest question of them all: would he make it through to that end, or fail like everybody else so far?

That, at least, would be a failure no-one could fault. And he wondered if anyone even expected anything. They wound up watching a good many trials – or the adults anyway. The children only saw the ones younger than them, and only paid attention to so many of them. Children were like that, easily distracted and not grasping the significance the adults did: adults who'd seen Gods in action and who only remembered the dimmest echoes of darkness and ice from their own trials so many years ago.

Yutaka remembered a bit more than that. He was one of the lucky ones. Or unlucky ones. And, truthfully, he wasn't sure if Tomoki was ready at all for this but that didn't matter. The trial was carried out on one's eighth birthday or never at all, and it was Tomoki's choice which it would be. And if he'd walked into the gaping hole of that cavern despite knowing no-one really expected him to win, than that was his decision, and a solid one.

And maybe, just that was proof enough that Tomoki did have some inner strength, inner strength Yutaka barely got to see but knew was there. And maybe Tomoki would do better than what people expected him to do. Whether he passed the trials or not… Well, if anyone knew how to pass the trials, someone would have passed them already.

But Tomoki had walked in there with his head bowed, deep in thought. The jeering kids not far from him mistook that for fear, but Yutaka knew better. The Tomoki whose neck had been straight and stiff and whose knees trembled in their effort to avoid from clacking together was the terrified one. The one with his head down was just lost in thought – probably trying to work out whether Yutaka was happy to be rid of him or trying to wish him luck.

 _Why couldn't I have just said "good luck" instead?_ he grumbled to himself. _Because I didn't want him to think luck was the only thing he had_ , he reminded himself. Would Tomoki realise that though? Probably not.

Hopefully he remembered he did have things other than luck under his belt and didn't run right back out of that cavern, screaming his head of. Because whether he could do it or not wasn't really the question as far as Yutaka was concerned, but whether he _would_.

 _You can do it, Tomoki. I know you can, even if these kids don't._

Even if Tomoki hadn't done much to try and prove them wrong, either.

.

Once the light from the villages' flames disappeared into the gloom of the cavern, Tomoki stopped walking. The desire to turn tail and run was even stronger now, and he'd even backpedalled until he could see the light again. But what was the point of that?

He stood, heart hammering in his chest and fighting that desire. Wasn't he here because he wanted to prove he _could_ do this? He wasn't afraid of the dark!

Okay, maybe he was, a little. Especially being on ice in the dark and the cavern was slippery and the walls were cold. There were handholds for now, but how long would they last?

There were handholds for now though. There was no reason to turn back when he had a clear path out still. He didn't need to be able to see. Not right then.

Like when the little chinks of puzzles were too small to see, or all the same colour. When he'd need to feel around for them instead: feel and push and prod, and this time trace the wall that's just a much bigger puzzle and watch his feet so his weight doesn't drag him off the hand-holds and the only thing that's telling him where he is and where he's going without any light.

Okay, that was working, he thought. His heart wasn't hammering so loudly anymore. And he had a game plan. Just keep following the hand-holds and step slowly and carefully and stick to the wall.

And wasn't the way out of mazes to stick to a wall? This might actually wind up being easy.

Tomoki grinned a little to himself and continued on.

The fear came back after a dozen or so steps, and he repeated the same process all over again.

Rinse. Repeat. Continue on.

He could do this.

.

Outside the cavern, the clock ticked. The torches flickered, grew dim, and were relit. The Elder stepped away from the mouth – and that meant Tomoki had passed out of view. Which meant all they could do now was wait. Wait for a messenger from the Hall, or from Tomoki himself. Or an Angel to fall out of the sky, but no-one was expecting to see that last one at all.

Most expected the messenger. Yutaka hoped Tomoki would be able to walk out on his own two legs. That was the best ending, he thought. That was his ending. The ending that let him grow from his trial, to keep the most important memories of his trial. It wasn't a wasted effort, that way. It wasn't just part of a tradition where the true coming of age acts were forgotten. But sometimes it couldn't be helped. The watchers from the Hall sent a messenger to stop children from dying or becoming seriously injured in these trials.

They weren't trying to whittle out the weak or anything like that. They were simply trying to find the ones who could awaken the powers of the Gods and protect their world…and the human world below.


	3. Chapter 3

**Challenge of the Bear  
** _Chapter 3_

He couldn't do this.

The wall had ended, into a sharp edge that cut his palm right open. He couldn't see still, but he could feel warmth spilling onto his palm and smell that coppery tang in the air. He froze again at that, and this time the fear was twofold, because not only had the wall stopped and so he couldn't go any further this way, but the blood could attract anything.

And those were the only things he could here: the blood dripping onto the icy floor, his too-fast breathing, and his hammering heart.

But wait, that didn't sound like blood hitting something dry. Rather, it sounded like when he didn't close the tap tightly enough, and a few drops fell onto the puddle he'd left behind.

 _Drip… Drip… Drip…_

It was definitely falling into a puddle – or a pond, or the water that lived under their glacier and no doubt had trickled into the cavern of the bear as well.

Hold on… Did the cavern go underwater?

He knelt down and traced the wall again, this time far more slowly and using only the pads of his fingers. Yes, the wall didn't stop entirely. It just dipped down. Sharply. And right into ice cold water that made him shriek and yank his hand back.

His voice echoed. He shivered, and then his face burned. What if everybody heard that? They'd think he'd gotten scared and was high-tailing it out (or further in, completely lost). And he'd just found another lead as well!

Except there wasn't any excitement to spur him on this time. Because how was he supposed to plunge into that ice cold water. He'd be frozen over! Maybe he should turn back then. Try and find another way. No-one said the bear slumbered right at the bottom – and there could be one of those shark things in the water who could smell the blood his palm was spilling and gobble him up for a midday snack – or midnight snack, since there wasn't exactly a sun in the caverns and the sun wasn't so great out in the glacier either.

Which was probably a good thing, otherwise all the ice and snow would wind up melted and they wouldn't have a glacier anymore.

But none of that gave him any ideas on how to follow the cavern wall down into that ice cold water – or what to do with his bleeding hand.

He should probably do something about the hand first. At least he had things for that. Like his shirt, but he couldn't just tear strips from it like his mother did with the old worn ones. They usually had holes to begin with and he wasn't going to wear a shirt with a hole in it on his birthday, let alone his trial day.

His suspensors wouldn't do much good against a hand wound either…but he did have his socks, and they were still dry. Maybe they'd be tight enough and thick enough.

They were a little loose, but at least they didn't soak through straight away and he could trace the wall without slipping – though he was careful to reach lower this time, so he didn't wind up just smearing the glove in blood instead. He couldn't tell any better than that. Not without some light.

He wouldn't know where a dead end was until he ran into it, and maybe he was just making up the path now.

He'd completely forgotten a messenger would come if he was in any danger. A messenger would come, outflying the angel of death and bring them to safety – and it wasn't to shame as well, because that happened to most people.

It hadn't happened to Yutaka though, who'd found the dead end himself and then made it all the way back, cold and wet and almost blue and Tomoki knew that, even if he wasn't old enough to recall…

That meant Yutaka had made it past this point.

How?

.

Yutaka wondered where Tomoki was now. He didn't remember the path too well (and no-one ever did, because that was how they challenged the next person to take the trials), but he remembered stone under his fingertips, and then cold and wet. Like the feeling of having fallen into a waterhole and lost the hole itself, trapped in the darkness and thumping at the ice above his head as though it would give way, as though they didn't walk on top of that very ice day in and day out without the threat of it breaking… But it would draw someone's attention, and they'd come with ropes and blankets and rescue the poor child that had gotten themselves stuck, and then the children would grow and at some point they'd be too big to fit into those holes anymore.

He did remember, though, coming back almost completely blue and it had taken weeks of fighting off the chill before his body had gone back to normal temperatures. Enough to kill a human, apparently, but they weren't human. Not in this lifetime. And because they weren't and they could survive such things, they were allowed to get that far. It was a different scale for them. But not so different, sometimes. They still got bruises and cuts and little things they thought they might have evolved out of, except they didn't. They still wore clothes in multiple layers and still had a hierarchy that was proven time and again to be senseless, but didn't seem to stop petty childhood rivalries (that sometimes went all the way into adulthood).

Sometimes, it seemed like the only difference between the two worlds is that they saw more: their own world, and the world of the humans as well. But the humans also did more with their smaller world. Electricity where they didn't have magic. Communication devices and the media where they didn't have the Hall. Police and armies where they didn't have Gods and Angels…but, of course, they needed the Gods and Angels anyway because they still had nothing to protect them from the demons.

Of course, most of them didn't have anything either. Their only advantage, if they weren't a God or an Angel themselves, is that they could see them – and that the Hall would pick them out and send a team after them long before they crossed the paths of civilisation.

If you were a lone wolf on the other hand, then you were in trouble.

And Yutaka wondered if Tomoki would ever reach that point, if he didn't earn some respect in this trial.

.

He did swim down. A little way, before he caught a light and he followed that. And it was a good thing there was a light to follow, because the wall didn't go in one direction anymore – or rather, he wasn't working in two dimensions any more. He could have easily wound up going back the way he came, only underwater – like when he was younger and had fallen into a water hole and gotten stuck there before Yutaka had pulled him out.

Why was it always Yutaka coming to his rescue? Sure, it was nice to have such a dependable older brother…but Yutaka said it himself. He never had to depend on himself for anything.

Well, he was depending on himself now. And the light he was following made him think he must be doing something right…though he wished it would hurry up, because he could only hold his breath for so long.

And then he was in a bubble and could breathe freely, and see freely as well. See murky waters and the black wall ending there, just before the bubble. And water and things swimming in the water (and had he really been swimming with them? They were huge, and yet they hadn't brushed against him at all.)

Had he gone the wrong way after all? But no. He could see another light. Where all the shadows were swimming in and out of.

Was that a hint? Or was that an entirely insane idea he was getting in his head.

But the more he sat in the bubble and shivered, the more he thought it was worth trying out. Because it was either that or go back, or try his luck swimming through them. And he was an okay swimmer, but not that good. And no doubt if they did brush against him, he'd scream, inhale water and choke, and need to be rescued by a messenger.

 _See Yutaka? I do think ahead._

Even if thinking ahead was prompting him to go for the dangerous idea – because how many times were kids like them told: don't grab on to the seals or polar bears and go with them into water holes. And yet he was about to do something even worse: grab an animal he wasn't quite sure of because he couldn't make anything more than its shadow out.

But he grabbed anyway, because what else was he going to do? In fact, with the way the shadows never touched each other, that was probably the safest option. There was no guarantee he'd be able to find his way back when the wall wasn't a straight path to outside anymore.

 _I can do this…I hope._


	4. Chapter 4

**Challenge of the White Bear  
** _Chapter 4_

Tomoki swam through the water on the shadow's back, holding his breath. It was quick and terrifying, and he'd shut his eyes after the first heartbeat until he felt the creature make a sharp turn. Then he opened his eyes, spotted the mouth to another cavern sealed with a bubble, and let go. He went hurtling through, but not before he saw gleaming white teeth of his carrier.

He gulped. Thank goodness he'd wrapped his hand. And thank goodness it had held.

But he was passed that now. Drifted in the bubble until his sneakered feet touched the floor, and then took a good look around.

It was going to be even harder to turn back now, but he was getting somewhere. He could do this.

And here was the next puzzle. The bubble seemed to stretch through the cavern, but no doubt it had its limits. And as for the cavern itself, it forked once, and then again further down. And who knew how many more times it would fork.

Which path was the right one? And how could he work that out? All he had were the clothes on his back, and the bubble…

 _The bubble…_

Except that could be risky if it didn't work. Riskier than the hitch a ride with a potential shark idea. Because it would flood the caverns and expose him. He'd be at the mercy of the water and the creatures in it.

But he had no way of controlling the bubble. Just bursting entirely.

.

Tomoki had been in there for a while. He'd easily passed the most recent times, and he was getting pretty close to Yutaka's too.

When a shadow fell over them, Tomoki had just slipped past Yutaka's time.

Yutaka looked up. It was a humanoid figure, except winged. An angel, then. Sent by the Hall, no doubt. He didn't touch down though. Rather, he hovered in the air. Watched and waited like the rest of them.

Was Tomoki close, then? Or was the Hall giving Tomoki one final chance before they retrieved him?

.

The water shoved him faster than the shadowy creatures could swim and all too soon, Tomoki found himself in a pool, gasping for air like a stranded fish.

This cavern had no path: no way in or out except how he'd gotten there, from underwater. And it glistened a pale blue, almost white.

And there were polar bears: tall and small, all of them white and ignoring his presence amongst them all. He tried to stay still, at first, because polar bears were far more genial than their brown-furred kin elsewhere in the worlds, but they'd still attack if they felt threatened…or thought he was a fish.

Thankfully, they didn't seem to think either of those two things. The ones closest to him turned around, and they went back to whatever they'd been doing before he interrupted them.

And then he heard the yowls of pain, from deeper in. though he couldn't see who or what was causing that. And it'd be foolish to try. This was obviously a dead end. His burst the bubble idea hadn't quite worked, so he'd have to swim back out and see if he could find another route and check them all the old-fashioned way.

But something about the yowling struck him as familiar.

And then he remembered. It sounded like him whenever one of those kids shoved him down the slope.

So those polar bears were ganging up on one (or more) of their kin.

And now Tomoki _couldn't_ leave it be.

He climbed the ledges slowly. There were ledges in this cavern, spiralling slowly up and to nowhere but the crystal roof where stalactites hung down. He was careful to avoid those…for now. They were also the only source he'd come across so far for a weapon – even if he could barely wield an ice pick without one of his hands injured.

He saw them, finally. A small and slightly off-coloured pup amidst the white. And he jumped before his brain had quite caught up with him, but hey, he'd done a number of crazy things on the way so what was one more?

Though he didn't want to wind up dead for his troubles. He really didn't want to wind up dead for his troubles and his heart was hammering so loudly, it was a wonder the polar bears hadn't heard him approach. Then again, it was hammering inside his chest, so maybe only he could hear it. That was how it tended to go, wasn't it? And that was why the shadows with big teeth hadn't smelt the blood, because it had been neatly tucked away under suspensors and a sock and only he knew it was there.

Well, none of that applied now, considering he'd just dropped down in front of them and interrupted them. And why oh why had he thought it was a good idea? He'd never thought that before. Always ran instead of trying to help because he knew he couldn't do anything, and now he was throwing away his chance at the trial for that thing and that was a bigger sacrifice than any he'd have to make in the glacier…

But he couldn't turn away. He just couldn't. And maybe it was because someone would come eventually for those kids: the parents, older siblings, people running patrol and Yutaka seemed like all three of those, sometimes. If Yutaka was here though, he'd be able to do something about this. What could Tomoki do? Glare fiercely and hope it didn't look completely ridiculous on his face?

He tried. It didn't seem to be working at all as the polar bears only growled back.

He gulped.

Well, there was definitely no turning back now, even if his feet did automatically take a few steps back until he almost stepped over the little pup. 'Sorry,' he whispered. 'I'd protect you, but I – ' And then he threw himself over said pup as one of the polar bears leapt forward, disproving his own words.

He braced himself for claws or teeth ripping into his back, but they never came.

Instead, there were words echoing in the closed-off cavern. 'You pass the trial, Tomoki.'

.

They'd lit another set of torches before the Angel in the sky broke his or her circling, and it wasn't through the mouth of the cave they went but rather over and past. They pointed a hand down, and the mouth collapsed, and then the walls of the caverns that lay inside their glacier.

The children screamed as their entire glacier crumbled, but even the fort of stones they'd made the day before stayed standing. Only the cavern collapsed.

Yutaka gaped with the rest of the adults. This had never happened before. Never…

And that meant Tomoki, little Tomoki who most people didn't think he'd last five minutes in the trial, had passed it entirely.

Slowly, his lips twitched into a grin. Tomoki would be thrilled. And he was the proof that he'd grown up and could handle himself in the world, so he was happy as well. Their mother was crying though. Crying that her baby was still in the caves. But Tomoki would be fine. The Angel was simply removing the obstacles so they could all see Tomoki's glory.

And then there was Tomoki himself, holding a polar bear pup (or so it seemed) close to his chest, before it grew large enough to envelop him.

And when it faded, it was only Tomoki standing there, and a stranger no-one had even seen approach clapping loudly, with the Angel from before landing behind him and next to his other companion.


	5. Chapter 5

**Challenge of the White Bear  
** _Chapter 5_

'I pass?' Tomoki repeated, opening his eyes. The polar bears were gone, except for the one under him – and that one was looking far less like the beaten pup it had been before. And it was glowing.

The pup pushed against his soaked chest. He sat up. The pup sat in his lap. 'Uhh… Was I imaging all of that?'

'In a sense,' the pup replied, and Tomoki did a double-take when he realised the pup was talking. 'Courage can remove even the most debilitating of obstacles, and a God has the power to reshape the field as they see fit, if only they can muster up the power.'

'God?' Tomoki repeated. 'Gods can do that much?'

'Gods can do anything or nothing,' said the polar bear. 'In truth, the idea is very similar to that of human potential. It simply manifests slightly differently.'

'I…guess I see,' said Tomoki thoughtfully. 'So what humans think of as Gods is really their own potential.'

'Exactly that.' The pup stretched in Tomoki's lap. 'And that potential doesn't just vanish into thin air when they die. They just take on different forms. So the unseen battles humans fight in their far smaller world, are set out as trials here.'

'But there aren't as many trials as people,' Tomoki pointed out, confused. 'How does that work, then?'

'Not every human reaches their full potential,' said the polar bear. 'There isn't enough space for all of that. This world selects the Gods who will fight for the world, the sort of people it needs. For the others, there are other roads. Angels…or without magic at their disposal at all.'

Yes, there were tales of adventurers who marched on without any sort of power at their disposal, and managed out of pure resourcefulness – or being constantly rescued. Some called it simply using the resources available to them. Then there'd be a huge wave of something or other and all the Gods and their Angels would be busy with that, and they'd wind up getting themselves killed and reborn on earth and into new lives in a new cycle.

'Magic is a responsibility as well as a potential,' the polar bear continued. 'But that's not the only thing like that. Lives are as well. Your bodies. The blood that runs in your veins.'

'Blood?' Tomoki blinked. 'Oh.' He looked at the sodden sock he wore.

'Indeed,' said the polar bear pup, following his line of sight. 'Blood too is a loan from a deity that is beyond even us. And courage.'

'Courage is a loan?' Tomoki repeated. 'I don't quite understand.'

'Courage is a loan,' the polar bear agreed. 'Some battles can be fought in other ways, or by other people. One being isn't to fight all the world's battles alone – but at the same time, sometimes there's no-one else or you're best –'

'And those are the battles you do have to be willing to fight,' Tomoki nodded. 'Okay, I got that. And I guess we do have a limited amount of courage, to be mixed in with all the things that frighten us. So…courage versus self-preservation?'

'Exactly that,' said the polar-bear, sounding well satisfied. 'And hence how you've reached here. You didn't take the unnecessary risk of swimming in the darkness, knowing you weren't strong enough a swimmer to make it in a single breath.'

'But I hitched a ride on a shark!' Tomoki exclaimed. 'How is that any better?'

'Have you heard of man-eating sharks being anywhere other than on earth?' asked the polar bear, amused.

'Well…no,' Tomoki admitted. He couldn't believed he'd forgotten that. Oh how the children would laugh at that one.

'And there you go,' said the polar bear. 'I'm sure if you had, things will have been different.'

'Sure,' Tomoki laughed. 'I'd have turned tail and swam right back out if that was the case.'

'But that wasn't the case,' the polar bear said. 'That would have become a test of daring and strength instead, and that is not my trial.'

'Your trial?' Tomoki said. 'Then you're..?'

'The spirit that will bestow upon you the status and power of a God,' the polar bear agreed. 'And it's just about time.'

He stood on his hind legs and howled. Tomoki jumped in fright. 'What was that for?'

'Letting the Angel waiting outside know we're done,' replied the polar bear. 'You don't think the winner will go all the way back down, do you?'

.

The new visitors were a God and another Angel. The Angel who'd removed the trial must have been his angel too. Brown hair like both Yutaka and Tomoki, but a mischievous look in his eyes and wings that he was now tucking away. The Angel who'd been with him initially was tucking wings away as well: white metallic wings, as opposed to almost red feathery ones. And the Angel who'd landed without a slip on the ice (and that took practice, because the adults had seen many an Angel or God slip on the glacier's ice before) had metallic wings as well, except they were gold and black.

And when Yutaka looked more closely at the pair of Angels, he realised they looked rather similar in other aspects as well, and the most striking of those similarities were their faces.

Twins then. Uncommon enough in the human world, but even rarer here.

But they hung back as the God stepped forward, still clapping. 'Glad we got the job,' he said. 'It's always great seeing a new God christened.' He set off, and the Angels stayed where they were. The God, like his companion, had no trouble crossing the ice. Rather, his footsteps melted into the glacier and left prints, and one of the Angels shook their heads and muttered something in annoyance before casting something to protect the rest of the ice. There were still four footprints before the crowd.

Not that they were paying attention. They were still trying to process the fact that little Tomoki of all people had managed to pass the trial.

The two brunets talked, the older and more experienced one far more animated and Tomoki hanging back shyly, through he was grinning by the end as well. And they walked back to meet the others: Yutaka and their parents, the Elder, and the two Angels who'd accompanied the other God.

'I'm Takuya,' the other God introduced. 'And these two are Kouji and Kouichi. And this – ' He clasped a hand on Tomoki's shoulder, 'is your new God.'

'They're not blind,' the Angel who'd had white wings before he'd tucked them away – Kouji – muttered.

'They were,' said the other Angel – Kouichi. And Yutaka wondered how he'd worked that out already. Had it really been that obvious, from a bird's eye view? Or did it simply have to do with their God, or their strength as an Angel.

They split off again. Takuya and Tomoki and the Elder and their parents, and Yutaka was left standing with the two angels.

'I knew he'd get far,' Yutaka admitted, 'but I didn't know if he could go all the way or not. I'm glad he has though.'

'You're not a God,' said Kouji, somewhat coldly. 'You can't understand.'

'You don't have to,' said Kouichi. 'The one who has less to protect can protect them better.' He was looking elsewhere when he said that, but Yutaka could understand. Sure, he guarded the glacier. But the one he looked out for the most was his little brother.

'Hey,' he said. 'How does one go about becoming an Angel?'

'Training,' Kouji said bluntly.

Yutaka did a double-take at that. 'Training?' he repeated. 'That's it? No huge trial like this?'

'You're already an Angel,' Kouichi explained. 'Just wanting to protect a God above the world is enough to make you qualify. From there, you just need to be strong enough to manage that: protect a God that has come into powers that are beyond your abilities and your understanding.'

It was strange, thinking Tomoki beyond him in anything – but that didn't matter, ultimately. Tomoki could be the head of the Hall and Yutaka would still find a way to keep a sharp eye on him. He'd been his big brother for far too long.

'So how do I train?' was his next question.

Kouji snorted. 'You're eager. And you're not the only one who needs training, you know.'

'Tomoki?' Yutaka guessed.

'Of course. No-one's crazy enough to let a new God loose on the world.'

'Unless it's an emergency,' countered Kouichi. 'In any case, that's pretty much why we're here.'

'To train us?'

The twins nodded.

.

Tomoki came back alone, and the twins drifted off together. Or marched off together. It was hard to imagine them drifting anyway, when their backs looked so similar, side by side with their wings tucked away. Yutaka watched them go, then glanced at their parents, still talking with the Elder. And the rest of the crowd was still muttering around them, but respectfully keeping their distance.

It was just the two of them.

And Tomoki's face was shining. 'What do you think?' he asked.

'I don't know,' Yutaka replied. 'I wasn't really expecting this.'

Tomoki's face fell a little. 'You didn't think I could do it,' he accused. 'You thought I'd turn take and came back within five minutes, didn't you?'

'Of course not,' Yutaka snapped. 'You would've come part of the way back and then decided you could do it and marched forward again. I knew that the moment you stepped into that opening – or, heck, before that.'

'Then…' Tomoki mumbled.

'I wondered how far you'd get,' Yutaka admitted. 'Further than those other kids. I was sure of that. You're good at problem solving. I knew you wouldn't get stuck at the first obstacle. I couldn't remember how many I made it through myself. But –'

'Couldn't?' Tomoki interrupted.

Yutaka hadn't realised until then, but the lock on their memories had lifted once Tomoki passed the trial. 'Yeah,' he said thoughtfully. 'It was that bubble surrounded by water and those shark-like –'

Tomoki snorted with laughter.

'What is it?' Yutaka asked.

'The sharks,' Tomoki laughed. 'I hitched a ride on one, you know.'

Yutaka gaped at him. 'You did _what?_ And that was the right answer, to boot?!'

'Yep, because man-eating sharks only exist on earth. Mister Polar Bear said so.'

Yutaka shook his head. 'Who's going to remember _that_ with those teeth gleaming in the depths? Honestly.'

'I didn't either,' Tomoki admitted. 'But I figured that was my best bet…and I didn't see the teeth until after I'd gotten off, anyway. And then after that was the other bubble – popped that to flood the caverns and shoot down the right tunnel – or I hoped it'd be the right tunnel anyway. Then the polar bears ganging up on this little one –'

He never would have thought of flooding the tunnels to quicken the search. Might not have risked it either, since that meant no more air bubble and who knew if there'd be another one. But then again, could someone swim into each of those tunnels and following them to the end and still have enough time to get back to the bubble in time for their next needed breath?

The polar bears though… that sounded an awful lot like Tomoki and those other kids.

And maybe that was why Tomoki passed the trial when no-one else got close. It had been waiting for him all this time and all along.


End file.
